Small copter crashes

2 men slightly injured

Experimental aircraft caught in crosswinds

ST. LUCIE COUNTY — An experimental aircraft rolled into a canal bank while performing touch-and-go landings in the western part of the county Saturday afternoon, said Sheriff Ken Mascara.

Pilot Robert Martian, 60, of Hobe Sound, and his passenger, Timothy Demming, 50, of West Palm Beach, were practicing landings about 1:30 p.m. near the Aero Acres development, a community for aviation enthusiasts where the aircraft is normally stored. It is described as a gyroplane helicopter in the sheriff's report, but Federal Aviation Administration documents describe it as a SG-3 Rotorcraft.

At one point, shortly after taking off, the aircraft ran into crosswinds while it was about 5 to 10 feet in the air, the report states.

"The pilot told me the cross wind got him, turned him around and then he hit a tire that was on the edge of the runway," Mascara said. "It turned him sideways and they just rolled down the canal bank."

The gyroplane ended up on land owned by Evans Properties Inc. near the dead end of Germany Canal Road not far from Aero Acres. Demming was able to free himself and then helped Martian get out of the craft, the report states.

They walked through an orange grove where they encountered two men who were looking at fruit, and one of the men called 911 on a cell phone.

Martian and Demming both had minor cuts and bruises, but neither man was taken to a hospital. Deputies took them back to a home at Aero Acres, where they began making arrangements to recover the aircraft, the report states.

The gyroplane, which the sheriff's office called a small, kit-built experimental helicopter, was submerged in a drainage canal and was "definitely wrecked," Mascara said. Damage was estimated at about $10,000, the report states.

The Federal Aviation Administration was notified of the incident and transferred the investigation to officials at the St. Lucie County International Airport, the report states.